Calculators
Missed calls cost calculator
Enter how many calls you get per day, how many go unanswered, your average order value, and how often customers buy again. You'll see your yearly losses from missed calls and the share automatic callback can win back.
Calculator
How much you lose on missed calls
The values are too large for Erlang A mode: reduce the number of calls, the target time or the patience.
A customer who can't get through rarely calls back – more often they call another company and buy there. The calculator counts repeat purchases for the first year only, so with loyal customers, you lose even more.
Missed calls = calls per day × missed call rate × days with calls
Lost deals = missed calls × share of sales calls × close rate
Monthly losses = lost deals × average order value
Yearly losses = monthly losses × 12 × (1 + repeat purchases per year)
Won back by callback per year = yearly losses × win-back rate
Remaining losses per year = yearly losses − won back per yearMethod
How the calculator works
First, the calculator works out how many calls go unanswered each month. Of those, it takes only sales calls and checks how many would normally end in a sale – those are the deals you lost. Multiply them by your average order value, and you get the revenue lost on first purchases.
A customer who goes to a competitor won't come back for future purchases either. So yearly losses are monthly losses times 12 times the number of purchases a customer makes per year: the first one plus repeats.
Callback wins back part of that money – you set how much in the last field. What's won back is subtracted from yearly losses, and the calculator shows what you still lose.
Causes
Where missed calls come from
- Peaks: more calls come in than you have agents on the line.
- After hours, weekends, and holidays.
- Long waits: the caller gives up and hangs up.
- Calls to desk phones nobody answers.
Solutions
How to win them back
- Automatic callback: the system dials the customer as soon as an agent is free.
- An AI agent answers every call, resolves simple questions, and logs the rest for your agents.
- Callers in the queue get the option to hang up and receive a callback instead of waiting.
- Hourly missed call reports show when you're short-staffed. The Erlang calculator tells you how many agents you need in those hours.
Example
Example
A company gets 300 calls a day, and 15% go unanswered. Half of all calls are sales calls, and one in ten of those ends in a sale. With a $100 average order and 22 days with calls, the company misses 990 calls a month and loses about 50 deals – $4,950 on first purchases alone. If a customer buys once more within a year, the company loses $118,800 a year, $59,400 of it on repeat purchases. If callback wins back 20% of losses, that's $23,760 a year, and losses drop to $95,040.
More
Where to use it
Glossary
Terms on this page
- Callback
- The customer doesn't wait on hold but asks for a callback – and gets one when an agent is free. Learn more →
- Automatic callback
- The system calls back everyone who couldn't get through. Learn more →
- Abandonment rate
- How many callers hang up before an agent answers. Learn more →
- Service level (SL)
- The share of calls answered within a set time – for example, 80% in 20 seconds. Learn more →